How do you approach the weekends? No academics, but still try to slip in some school-based learning? Or do you give the kids completely free reign over their weekends in terms of schooling?

Which brings up the bigger questions of scheduling:

Do you follow a M-F set-up like PS? Like PS, do you have summers "off", etc. Do you employ a 3 week on, 1 week off method, etc.?

Thanks -- just curious about what you've found works best in your own situations.

Mrs. Weasley's Wand

01-21-2011, 07:21 PM

We do not do work on the weekends, but we also do our best to schedule NOTHING on the weekends that doesn't involve the four of us doing things together. Preserving our family time together is the primary reason we homeschool. We don't even sign the kids up for soccer to protect this time. We do attend Spiral Scouts once every other Sunday for an hour, but that is the only organized activity we do, and there was simply no getting around that time. We're not off romping on these amazing nature walks or anything. We're usually just doing things like hanging out in the house together.

We plan to work through the summer this year to see how that works for us; the break over Christmas has been a nightmare to return from both for my kids and myself and I find that it is difficult to get more than three solid days of school in most weeks anyway due to activities and doctors appointments and illnesses in the winter. I know the activities "count" towards what the kids learn, but I'd like more time with the kids myself. I think I'm going to need to go through much of the school year to maintain the relaxed attitude about our current pace or I will have to drop things I currently find very valuable, like the day my children spend with their grandmother each week.

When I taught I felt the summer break was exceptionally necessary to prevent myself from burning out too early in the year. Now that I'm in complete charge of our schedule I can slow things down or push a little harder depending on how things feel and how they are working for the three of us and not based on outside forces, so I don't feel the need to adhere to a more traditional schedule.

Teri

01-21-2011, 07:23 PM

We do not do school on weekends, as a rule.
Actually, if daddy is home, it is very disruptive to try and do school at our house. :p He messes with our rhythm.
On weekends, we tend to be busy with other stuff though. The girls play volleyball, the kids perform during Oktoberfest season and Caroline has Chinese school on Sunday, and I HAVE to grocery shop some time. LOL
Once we finish this year's curriculum, we will scale back to only math and practicing instruments until next fall. So depending on how much we have left, summer can be 4 months or 2 months.
When they were younger, I did not stop in the summer because they had a very hard time getting going again.

hockeymom

01-21-2011, 07:24 PM

We do "school" M-F, in the mornings. That's the table work part of it anyway, the math and LA and history or science. We don't do formal stuff on the weekends unless DS wants to (and sometimes he does want to) but often there will be science experiments going on, living math happening, always lots of reading (both being read to and independently), and always there are discussions about history, sports stats (math), etc. I tend to think most everything we do is educational in some way (except Mario Kart on the wii anyway!) so the real life learning doesn't end on Friday night. I'm still amazed at how much he soaks up from the most seemingly benign things.

I guess we school year round, although we'll likely take a break from some formal curriculum during part of the summer. Still, that would afford us the time and energy to explore some other interests like geography which we don't currently study formally. Last summer we studied a couple of countries that interested him and had a great time with that; we're never lacking in areas of interest to study more in depth. But also, because we live in an area with extremely limited opportunities, I think it's important that he be involved in anything available that interests him like soccer and tennis that are only available in the summer. I can't justify schoolwork over social opportunities so in the summer months those take precedence.

Well, there's no such thing as the "weekend" at our house. Internally, none of us have the weekend "off" - parenting doesn't let you ever take off and dh actually works double shifts on Friday and Saturday nights. We do school for about 1-2 hours most mornings. If we take a morning off, it tends to be Thursdays, the day when we're really busy with outside activities, or Tuesday, which is part of dh's weekend, or occasionally Sunday because I can't seem to get myself to get moving on Sunday mornings and now the kids are in the choir and often have to go earlier. But we play it by ear. I would say we probably do 6 days a week on average, but it's not uncommon for us to do all 7 (though inevitably one or two of those will be very "lite" - like this morning we just did free reading and math).

Last summer we took the summer off. I sent the kids to four different day camps and used the time for me. It was lovely. We also traveled a good bit and spent time with our Georgia relatives, which was nice. Our only educational things all summer were that we kept reading books in the evenings and did a very little bit of working on reading (very little). Also, we did a sort of study of classic films. We watched Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, The Marx Brothers and so forth, as well as Singin' in the Rain and The Wizard of Oz and a number of other films. We read picture books about how movies are made and went to see some exhibits - oh, and we made a zoetrope. It was sort a unit study lite. Mostly we just watched the movies. The kids especially liked Duck Soup.

I haven't decided what to do about this summer. I still want to avail ourselves of summer camp. But... I don't know. One of the things I am considering is schooling all summer with some breaks for camp, traveling less and then taking an academic break in the fall when all our activities and co-op groups start up again. I feel like schooling over the summer might be lazier and more relaxed and then we'd be less harried in the fall because we won't be worrying about getting school done every day. Plus, summer is mostly miserable to be outside, but fall is just lovely - and there's always a million things going on here in the fall - the ren fair, apple picking, the pumpkin festivals, all the various farm days - and this would let us take advantage of that a little more. So... maybe....

Btw, I sure hope Mario Kart counts as educational. I put that down as our driver's ed. ;)

Teri

01-21-2011, 09:15 PM

We did an entire film study last year also! Actually, it started out as part of our curriculum, but Joseph became VERY interested in it.
Their favorite is George Melies. They LOVED watching movies that are over 100 years old and were just amazed at his "special effects" as a cinemagician. LOL

StartingOver

01-21-2011, 09:56 PM

I have always just played it all by ear. There is no set time, days, months, or years. We take time off when we need it. And work when we want to. Luckily my kids have always been gung-ho to work. ;-)

Sam

01-21-2011, 09:58 PM

We school year round M-F but a lighter schedule than most. We do about 1-3 hrs of work a day. And really the only time it goes past 2 hrs or so is when it's requested extra work. The only thing we do on the weekend that's school-ish is min 30 mins reading and weather tracking. Sometimes we'll do requested extra work, but usually DD will do any of those requests tying into what work we're doing during the week so I add it to our regular work. We took the 24th and 27th off in Dec and it screwed us up. DD was asking about school and just floating around. So yeah, we won't take much more than weekend breaks. We also just take off "days needed", like today. I had a massive headache and just didn't care lol

sallymae

01-21-2011, 10:02 PM

We are require to have 180 days of seat time in our state. So if we miss a day or two during the week we will make it up on the weekend. We start after Labor day and end around Memorial Day.

Melissa541

01-21-2011, 10:19 PM

Before we went more toward unschooling, our days off would be whatever days off DH had (his schedule changes), which typically were never weekends. We didn't take summer breaks, since it's so miserably hot here & places are crowded so we don't really want to go anywhere, anyway. We took the spring off & enjoyed nice weather & outings before the PS kids were let out.

dbmamaz

01-21-2011, 10:27 PM

My kids went to school before being home schooled, and i'm a schedule sort of person, and dh is home on the weekends, and I NEED the break! We do school m-f approx 11-3. We do nothing on the weekends. this is our second year, but I have taken 2 weeks of around the holidays, 2 weeks off at the beginning of summer and at the end of summer (well, early september). we do a lighter schedule over the summer, leaving time for the pool, and taking off as needed for camps or vacations.

I remember someone saying she did 8 weeks on and 1 off, to give her a break and let her plan curriculum, and i didnt get it - but i defintely do a lot of the curriculum planning during our 2 week breaks.

Pefa

01-21-2011, 10:35 PM

We tend to a M-F because I work 2nd shift during the week but 1st shift on weekends. Realistically there's no way I'd come home from work and then do table time (hubby doesn't do schooling. He plays w/the boys but at the level he chooses, wouldn't matter whether they were hs'ing, ps'ing or just returned from a six year exile.) B1 spends a couple of months w/his grandparents in the spring which changes the pace as does the demands of the garden. So really, as BOO said to one persistent grown-up "We learn what we need to know, and I suppose you could either say we're always in school or we're never in school."

Kristina Breece

01-21-2011, 10:37 PM

I like the idea of periodic 1-2 week breaks. Any longer and I would feel off-track. We're going to dive into Kindy probably right after the 4th of July holiday, then take a couple of weeks off when soccer starts in the fall (and the new Y opens around the same time, and DD's gymnastics session starts.... early fall=BUSY!), and get back into it. I'll probably work through Thxgiving week, and take 2 weeks off at Christmas/New Year's. And Saturdays are no different from weekdays with us, unless there's something special going on. Soccer games, recitals, family field trips. So, I'm looking at, like, 8-10 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Loosely scheduled, really, but working mostly every day. Some lighter than others, of course.

Kristina Breece

01-21-2011, 10:38 PM

"We learn what we need to know, and I suppose you could either say we're always in school or we're never in school."

I love this!

dbmamaz

01-21-2011, 11:03 PM

Oh, another thing to keep in mind is local weather. Some ppl like to take off in the snow to play, others prefer to play when its hot and sunny. Some people take longer breaks in the spring and fall when the weather is most pleasant.

outskirtsofbs

01-21-2011, 11:33 PM

We usually start the first or second week of August, we stop by the last Friday in May, right before Memorial Day. And we schedule everything around the holidays/birthdays. We have mandatory 148 days to do. We occasionally do work on the weekends if we have to make up a day or two. DD is going back to school on 1/24 from having the week of 1/17 thru 1/21 off for her birthday. The flexibility of homeschooling is awesome. I think I need the summer off more than DD.

MarkInMD

01-21-2011, 11:44 PM

Both our boys benefit from schedules, although they may not like them. But if they're not given a time frame in which something is to be completed, it just flat out won't get done. We do a M-F schedule for traditional schoolwork type stuff (for Hurricane, that's usually roughly 10-3 with a 45 minute lunch break). If anything educational is to be done on weekends, it's of the field trip variety. We're actually planning a trip to DC in about a month to tie in with some science units we've done so far (fossils at the Natural History Museum, space at the Air and Space Museum). But being only a couple hours from Washington, we have lots of pretty good opportunities in our own backyard. We've also started a Maryland social studies unit that will take us to several local places. There's no book work as such on weekends, though.

For us, several short breaks just won't work, I'm afraid. When our guys get out of the routine of doing something, it's absolute H-E-double hockey sticks to get them back into it (see Break, Winter). So I'd rather it just be one long break so that the excitement of starting school again will override their natural tendency toward complaint and sloth. But one of these years soon, we're going to take an off-season trip to Florida/Disney, probably in February or March.

Amerikiwimom

01-22-2011, 05:36 AM

For us, flexibility is paramount. We usually work M-F but have been known to do some things on the weekends. We may start as early as 8 or 8:30 or as late as 10 (on a rough day when babyboy is sick/grumpy/in need). We can go until lunch time (the kids always have a break for morning tea) or go until 5 p.m. It all depends upon our flow. If the kids are really into something and want to continue, I like to let that happen. If our heads are in the clouds or someone is having a tough day, I like to allow time for that person to refocus. I find it so refreshing not to be tied to a strict school schedule! Also, we usually school year round with breaks taken to coincide with any holidays DH has off or major activities we have scheduled.

Busygoddess

01-22-2011, 09:30 AM

My state places no requirements on us regarding time, so we get to do whatever we want. I plan school for M-F. I don't require schoolwork on weekends (because it's hard to get regular school stuff done when my hubby is home). They sometimes do schoolwork on the weekends, because they want to. Also, they are sometimes working on long-term projects, and will work on weekends. The only time I require school on weekends is if they are doing a lab & need to check to it every day for X days, and the weekend falls into the timeframe. We school year-round, taking off birthdays, holidays, one month between grades, and whenever else we feel we need a break.

That's not to say they don't learn anything on their breaks & weekends, though. A few weeks ago, Dea spent the weekend helping work on a car. One weekend in December, we went to the museum to see the Grossology exhibit. We watch documentaries and other educational shows. We go to local State Parks to hike, swim, boat, observe flora & fauna, etc. Our weekends and breaks are full of learning experiences. The weekends are the time we get to spend together as a family, so we take advantage of that. Of course, some weekends end up being nothing more than popping some popcorn & watching movies or a Dr Who marathon.

jettyspagetti

01-22-2011, 10:27 AM

My *mostly* take weekends off. However, my 5 year old usually wants to do "schoolwork" whenever I don't plan on doing it. So most weekends she does more than on a regularly scheduled day. We usually take off on wednesdays since my husband is home from work that day and works on the weekends and fridays are usually reserved for fun activities with our homeschool group or classes and events. So if we get behind a bit with work my son will sometimes do school work for an hour or so on the weekends-usually whatever project he's currently working on. Also, we are the neighborhood hangout so once the other people's kid count reaches 6 or more I usually break out the science labs, arts and crafts or some other fun lesson plan. Since most of his friends have asked if they can homeschool at our house they like to "do school" with us. It helps keep the chaos down a bit. We've also had a few of his friends bring their homework over on the weekends and my kids will do work while their friends work on their math or whatever.

Kristina Breece

01-22-2011, 10:31 AM

We don't have a required number of days... the law just specifically states 900 hours of instructional time. Also, I just learned that I don't have to report him to the Superintendent of the district until the year he's 6 on August 1. This makes me ridiculously happy.

Dm379

01-22-2011, 04:56 PM

I just schedule for 5 days a week and we make them any day we want. Dad is away so one day is just like the other to us. We usually get more done on the weekends because I hate going places because it is so crowded. We don't take summers off either. We schedule our "summer" breaks around our yearly moves. This year it was during Christmas, next year in Sept. It takes a lot of stress off of me.

Stella M

01-22-2011, 05:23 PM

M-F 9ish - 2ish - that includes co-op type stuff. My girls dance on the weekend, so no school then. All the kids spend time with family most weekends, so no school for that reason either. We take private school holidays off ( longer! ) and I feel not a shred of guilt. I would go insane if we schooled on the weekend - we used to when dh worked Sat/Sun, but then we always took Mon/Tues off.

TamaraNC

01-22-2011, 06:57 PM

We do M-F, usually between 9a and 2p because DS14 is a ridiculous distraction when he's home from PS in the afternoon and on the weekends. We'll often do science, art, or history projects on the weekends, at their request. We haven't been doing this long enough to know how it'll go during PS breaks, but the summer is slotted for lots of unit studies. So far, the list they're making of things they want to study during the summer: insects, cooking, birds, sewing, American Indians, camping, painting, weather, and (this is my addition) pie.

alexdk

01-22-2011, 10:11 PM

My husband works retail hours, so weekends he is works. Usually, we take a day off during the week to match his days off. It's quite difficult to concentrate when he's around ;)
Sometimes we follow the M-F schedule. We're very flexible. We also don't follow the school year calendar, we tend to take one month off during the summer and more time off in December. It's not set in stone though, when I feel that we need a break, we take it. That's the beauty of homeschooling!

MrsLOLcat

01-22-2011, 10:45 PM

Weekends are off altogether for us. With M2 still in private school, we follow her schedule, which I love anyway. It's not quite a year-round schedule, but it's closer than most. We start the first week of August, get a week off in October, a week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas, and two weeks for Spring Break. Then summer break starts the first week of June, so they only have two months of summer in which to get bored stupid and fratricidal before it's back to the books again. Which isn't to say they're not *learning* during those times off... we're just not sitting down and "officially" doing school. And it works for me :D

belacqua

01-23-2011, 04:09 PM

Now that the kid is high-school aged, it seems he's studying pretty much all the time. We don't have formal class meetings on weekends, but he's usually doing problem sets or Latin flashcards or practicing for math competitions or some such.

And my husband is the designated Lab Teacher, so weekends often involve the two of them hanging stuff from my ceiling or swinging things around their heads in the backyard. I'd grumble, but at least physics is reasonably clean and safe. I shudder to think what they'll get up to when it's time for biology and chemistry.

floridamom

01-24-2011, 12:33 AM

We're very relaxed schoolers, with a Charlotte Mason flair. We generally do M-Th, 3-4 hours a day. Rather than have set times to do school, I have things ds needs to get done. If he gets them done early, the rest of the day is his. If he dawdles, his school day is longer. Friday is either a catch up day, free day, or a scheduled fun activity. We take weekends off completely.

We school year round, sort of. We live in Florida, as my username shows, so summers are too hot and humid to be outside unless you're swimming. We mostly school through the summer and take off plenty of time during our winter and spring when the weather is nicest.

However, some years there are summer camps that ds is interested in, so I work those in. Also, this summer will be our first year with public school kids for neighbors, so I know ds will want to hang out with them while they're out of school. I'll play it by ear when the time gets here.

mommalee93

01-24-2011, 03:39 PM

I schedule school for 4 days a week. Typically that is m-th from about 9-9:30 until 12:30ish for my older one..the younger one is doing K and usually is done earlier. That day off sometimes gets rotated because of Dr.'s or dentists, or family visits. My husband works a typical m-f 9-5 job so weekends are family time, as evenings....plus DH totally screws with the quiet and peace we have around here. However my husband was an Art major in school and his main homeschool adventure is to teach the boys "art aprreciation" which he does for about 15-20 minutes 3 or so weekends a month. We sometimes use the weekedns as a catch up day. And occassionally we use them for field trips too.

As for summers I am not sure. Our first year we did through the summer, but mostly I pushed my son through K (he knew most of it) just to make sure we didn't miss anything for starting 1st grade. last year we stopped school from Feb. until August because I had a baby and couldn't fathom schooling with a newborn. This year school is scheduled to end in the first week of June....We will still do reading and probably some theme learning stuff as well as field trips, but sitting formal work is a no go. Part of the reason for schooling my kids was to allow them to be children and that includes playing and when the weather is nice we spend most of our days OUTSIDE!!

InstinctiveMom

01-24-2011, 10:57 PM

Our normal routine is 'school' M-F and off on the weekend because that maximizes our time spent with my Loverly Husband. If he's off, then we're usually off as well.
We usually do field trips on Tuesdays and Library on Wednesdays, but that changes sometimes due to the chedule of our homeschool group's plans.

We're doing 4 weeks 'on', one week 'off' all year long this year - we did 6/1 last year and we were getting burned out around week 5, so this year we're trying something new. Our school year is Jan-Nov and we take Dec off b/c of the holidays and family stuff. One of the great benefits to homeschooling, IMO, is the total adaptivity of the schedule.
~h

naturegirl7

01-24-2011, 11:47 PM

I work double shifts on the weekend - so I dont do any official "school" then. Even weekdays that my hubby is home, we skip "school" time, just too distracting for DS.

There's a ton of great stuff that he does with his daddy (or as a family) though that ends up being educational. Like this weekend coming up they are going to a Bug workshop and building Bug houses. Last weekend they spent the day at the zoo and the next day hiking and fishing.

We tend to be rather laid back or even unschooly though - if we do an hour of "sit down" school in the mornings on weekdays that is a lot. The rest is games, reading together, projects, experiments, movies, and his various classes/activities.

I do plan on year round "school" though, since so much of what we do is educational (and FUN) I don't see any reason to stop for months at a time. But I do take a day or a week or whatever off if we are sick or anything like that.

homeschmom24

01-25-2011, 12:38 AM

Weekends are informal, they catch up on reading, replying to pen pals but mostly they're outside (depending on the weather) working out.

amberd

01-30-2012, 06:07 PM

When we started back in August, I planned on doing school M-F, four hours each morning (our state requires 4hrs/day, 180 days/school year). Thursdays, when DD visits with her dad for most of the day, felt like a black hole in the week. Now I don't sweat it though. That morning we play games and she typically plays rock band with her dad (not the vid game but with real instruments--for now it is the extent of her music ed beyond an Usbourne book we occasionally work on). Most days we do some sit-down work and some days go to the library, go on field trips, etc. Weekends we don't do the sit-down work. During the summer, I think we will keep going but at an easier pace and I don't plan on counting it as school time--we will prob just do reading, math, and whatever she wants to do.

Recently she told me she likes fake-school better, which she explained is where we do art and learn about rockets. Fake school sounds pretty fun, and I am taking it as a hint that what we do is maybe not so much fun. I am going to rework what we do for the rest of kindergarten to include some project-based learning or at the very least def work in more art and rockets :)

theWeedyRoad

01-30-2012, 11:22 PM

M-F here, too. It takes how long it takes. I don't time it- I really just want to hit Reading, LA, Math every day, and rotate sci/ss for 2 days a week. The other stuff gets fit in here and there.

Always weekends off- I need the break. Summers off as well- I need that too!

Days off don't even really mean days off. The learning doesn't stop just because I'm out of work for them for the day. They spend their free time pursuing their own interests and learning on their own. That's pretty important, too (and reason #7,652 we homeschool).

Tayonoss

01-30-2012, 11:37 PM

We HS M-Th with Fridays off as field trip days. Might be to the library or shopping or visiting. We plan on schooling year round. Our kids need the structure.

ponygirl

01-31-2012, 12:29 AM

When we are activily schooling we school monday to thursday with friday reserved to visit friends or be visited by friends, excursions, shopping and general life catch up. Not to mention playing with the horse before a weekend of more playing.
We do do "after school" activities such as swimming lessons (which I don't really concider an after school activity, life skill actully) ds competitive swimming squad, basket ball, and dd can't decide on Ballet, gymnastics, girl guides or horse riding lessons, aparantly it's a tough decision) but no competitions or activities on Sunday's.
But other than that I think family time is important especially with a hubbie thats a workaholic so it's kind of trying to save time for the kids to interact with dad or else they wouldn't see him. Family is not hugely important to him as he was adopted by a family who parented from a distance and love = money not quality time. Where my upbringing was totally different my parents took an active role in our life in general, lots of quality time. As a direct result Family is the most important thing to me and am trying to teach that to the children that when their lives fall apart they still have their family and they love you no matter what happened.

opheliag

01-31-2012, 10:22 AM

We have extremely hot summers here in AZ, so we tend to do school all summer long. It is just easier to deal with the heat in the pool or a/c. All homeschool groups and co-ops shut down in the summer time. That means our main schooling time runs from May until September (sometimes in October we are still in the 100's). During those months, we do school for several hours a day usually M-F but occassionally on the weekends too.

Right now, it is really nice outside (high 60's and 70's). We just have to be out most days riding bikes and playing. I still plan school for three days a week, and we work it in on whichever days. We have co-ops starting up on Mondays and Thursdays which will take up most of those days.

dottieanna29

01-31-2012, 10:46 AM

The only time we have ever done work on the weekend is if DH is away. It is impossible to do official school in our tiny house when he's home. Usually weekends are DH getting up with the kids, playing Wii with ds while dd watches and I stay in bed as late as I can possible get away with. We do occasionally take a trip to the museum for a special event and about once a month, DH takes the kids down to his mothers for the weekend.

We don't have to report anything so we are able to be pretty relaxed. We've been a little too relaxed lately with everyone taking turns being sick and some disruption around the house. What I shoot for is at least 4 days of official school with math and language arts done in the morning and science, history or geography done in the afternoon. We continue year round but take off whenever we need to. Although a lot of our Summer "school" will be camping trips with visits to various zoos, aquariums and museums, and lots of nature hikes.

The kids have out of the house activities on Wednesday and Friday afternoons weekly, on Tuesday afternoons twice a month, and we signed ds up for t-ball which will be on Saturday mornings.

Batgirl

01-31-2012, 09:03 PM

We do four days per week of school, plus one day of co-op. School lasts for roughly three hours. I start us at around 9:30 and try to move briskly, because the longer we go, the more we seem to bog down. Batman strenuously resists any attempts to do "school" on weekends--that's video game time! I need the break anyway, so fine with me. We do take summers off, but I try to work as late into June as I can, as the weather is usually still rainy, and start back later in September. As we move farther away from memories of ps, I'd like to adopt more of a year-round schedule, as both boys do better with shorter breaks.

lisayvonne

02-01-2012, 05:23 AM

We have a rest at weekend. basically, we rest according school. We have weekend, holiday, vocation... Haha~~

CatInTheSun

02-01-2012, 08:20 AM

When my eldest was in K I discovered the cure for Monday-morning-itis/grumps: no weekends! Since then we homeschool 7 days/week. :D

Not all days are created equal, though. Dh usually works 12-hr shifts on weekends, so we do our most intense hs then. It's less distracting and the structure helps keep the chaos in check. His first day off is usually our lightest WRT lessons. 2-3 data a week we just do "core" work (some fun math together, reading, phonics/handwriting/journaling) which takes less than an hour. I find even 45min of lessons first thing in the morning really helps the kids get in a good mindset for the day. Then I try to do some fun things (crafts, extra read-alouds, activities). Mario (Wii) has to wait until all lessons are done, which is a source of much enthusiasm for lessons some days! LOL

As to breaks: we take time as we need it. Monday I mused how nice it was to take the day off (I had a cold which was mild except I felt exhausted). We don't do it often since our core is really so easy to do and we want our kids to grow up feeling that learning is something you do every day, not a job. I think it helps that they see dh and I always learning new things, reading and discussing books or articles. We school about 300 days/year. Personally, I only watch the ps calendar so we can do the OPPOSITE! We avoid the parks on school breaks and do our big road trips/activities right after they go back or during the weeks they are prepping for testing -- MUCH less crowded and a definite perk to homeschooling. Really, the same with weekends -- I would NEVER go on a field trip on the weekend. We go when other kids are in school. Sometimes you can check an find out the days the museum/zoo has the fewest school groups coming as well.

In truth I find breaks of any kind screw us up. I'm also one of those mom's who hears the kids squabble and says, "If you can't find something to do without arguing, I'll find something for you." which they know means extra lessons or chores. :D I don't think I could handle 7 days/week of lessons that required prep, though. Of our core, math is the only one that requires any thought on my part besides "what's next in your workbook" or "Go write/read." I save my creativity/energy for science/history/latin/piano and unit studies.

Airen

02-01-2012, 03:10 PM

We don't usually school on weekends. DH is home, so that's project day. Deep cleaning, or town for shopping... If he's on call, we will do school. We school throughout summer, too. Our breaks come as we travel. We go to FL a few times a year to visit family, so that's when we stop. I CANNOT WAIT until my mom moves out here... I hate fla with a passion that surpasses... something really friggin huge. But then I feel bad for that, because she can't move until my grandma passes... which I don't want... LMAO

Tangent... I'm bad at those...

KristinK

02-01-2012, 03:46 PM

we absolutely take weekends off. I need the break from the structure, and it's impossible to run "lessons" with DH around. It's just way more fun to play with Daddy, and daddy-playtime is more important on the weekends then schoolwork :D

we also take full summers off. daycamps, camping trips, family trips, playdates with all our good public-school-friends, swimming pool days, etc etc. The kids are already counting down, since yesterday marked day 90 of our 180 days of school :D

ItoLina

02-01-2012, 08:29 PM

Lol...I see a pattern of daddies disrupting school here.

We are the same though. We do school when dh is at work. He works M-Th (4 10 hour days). So we pretty much don't do school Friday, Sat. and Sun. Sometimes I save a fun project for the weekend so that dh can participate, and so that I have help keeping the toddler out of the way.

I am planning to school year round with no major breaks (except for once a year to take a trip somewhere). This is to make up for all the Fridays off and because the one time we took a month long break it took another month to get my ds back into the groove of school.

lakshmi

02-01-2012, 08:54 PM

We school Friday through Tuesday with Wednesday off and Thursday is co-op and library.

Dad is home all the time so he does NOT disrupt the lessons.

We have some problems getting stuff done, ideally school is 10-3 with a lunch break. BUT, something seems to happen everyday to make it longer. Some inattention, the washer overflowing, you name it. Something.

If we get our core done then we can go into the loop activities which are more fun, art, sewing, cooking so sometimes we're still doing school at 6 pm. But I do no grocery shopping or cooking. Just cleaning and laundry.